Galerie
Mark Müller

On September 6, the American painter Joseph Marioni died unexpectedly at the age of 81 in his adopted home of New York. As the son of Italian immigrants, Marioni was well acquainted with European art history. In 1994, we acquired Yellow Painting 1.1982 from a private collection, the first painting that he had exhibited in Germany in the year it was created, in the legendary and highly acclaimed painting room of Cologne painter Günter Umberg. The following year, it was juxtaposed with the sculpture of the standing Ecce homo, created around 1500, which impressively presented the still young concept of the reformed diocesan museum. On the occasion of his solo exhibition at the Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, Marioni had the opportunity to view the presentation. He found himself in the cross-temporal and cross-media juxtaposition in a way that he had never experienced before. This was followed by an ongoing and intensive dialog about painting, which we will miss just as much as his hospitality, generosity and warmth of heart. Important milestones in our relationship included the solo exhibition Joseph Marioni – Triptych, which we showed in 1999 immediately after Andy Warhol – Crosses at the old location, the opening exhibition in the new building (2007 – 2008) and the annual exhibition Noli me tangere (2010 – 2011), within which his works formed a common thread. With four selected works from the years 1974, 1982, 1999 and 2017, the exhibition For Joseph Marioni can lay claim to the character of a small retrospective. It provides an insight into the painter’s lifelong struggle for painting as a body of color, color of light.